PCP-FREE(1)                 General Commands Manual                PCP-FREE(1)

NAME
       pcp-free - report on free and used memory in the system

SYNOPSIS
       pcp [pcp options] free [-bkmgroltVw?] [-c count] [-s interval]

DESCRIPTION
       pcp-free gives a summary display of the total amount of free and used
       physical memory and swap in the system, as well as the caches used by
       the kernel.

       When invoked via the pcp(1) command, the -h/--host, -a/--archive,
       -O/--origin, -s/--samples, -t/--interval, -Z/--timezone and several
       other pcp options become indirectly available, see PCPIntro(1) for
       their descriptions.

       The displayed columns are:

       total  Total installed memory (MemTotal and SwapTotal in /proc/meminfo)

       used   Used memory (calculated as total - free - buffers - cache)

       free   Unused memory (MemFree and SwapFree in /proc/meminfo)

       shared Memory used (mostly) by tmpfs (Shmem in /proc/meminfo)

       buffers
              Memory used by kernel buffers (Buffers in /proc/meminfo)

       cache  Memory used by the page cache and slabs (Cached and SReclaimable
              in /proc/meminfo)

       buff/cache
              Sum of buffers and cache

       available
              Estimation of how much memory is available for starting new
              applications, without swapping.  Unlike the data provided by the
              cache or free fields, this field takes into account page cache
              and also that not all reclaimable memory slabs will be reclaimed
              due to items being in use (MemAvailable in /proc/meminfo).

OPTIONS
       The available command line options are:

       -b, --bytes
            Display the amount of memory in bytes.

       -c count, --samples=count, --count=count
            Terminate the display after count iterations.  See also -s.

       -g, --gigabytes
            Display the amount of memory in gigabytes.

       -k, --kilobytes
            Display the amount of memory in kilobytes.  This is the default.

       -l, --lohi
            Display detailed low and high memory statistics.

       -m, --megabytes
            Display the amount of memory in megabytes.

       -o   Disable the display of a "buffer adjusted" line.  If the -o option
            is not specified, free subtracts buffer memory from the used
            memory and adds it to the free memory reported.

       -r, --terabytes
            Display the amount of memory in terabytes.

       -s delay, --interval=delay, --seconds=delay
            Activate continuous polling delay seconds apart.  You may specify
            any floating point number for delay, or indeed any valid
            pmParseInterval(3) specification, which includes microsecond
            resolution delay times.  This can be used in conjunction with the
            -c option.

       -t, --total
            Display a line containing the totals.

       -V, --version
            Display version number and exit.

       -w, --wide
            Switch to the wide mode.  The wide mode produces lines longer than
            80 characters.  In this mode buffers and cache are reported in two
            separate columns.

       -?, --help
            Display usage message and exit.

NOTES
       pcp-free is inspired by the free(1) command and aims to be command line
       and output compatible with it.

PCP ENVIRONMENT
       Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the
       file and directory names used by PCP.  On each installation, the file
       /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables.  The
       $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration
       file, as described in pcp.conf(5).

       For environment variables affecting PCP tools, see pmGetOptions(3).

SEE ALSO
       PCPIntro(1), pcp(1), free(1), pmParseInterval(3) and environ(7).

Performance Co-Pilot                  PCP                          PCP-FREE(1)